Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez makes a crossing gesture while he holds the baseball as he takes the mound at the start of the team's baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in Seattle. less

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez makes a crossing gesture while he holds the baseball as he takes the mound at the start of the team's baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, ... more

Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP

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Top 10 rookie seasons by a Mariners pitcher:

In 2011, Mariners rookie right-hander Michael Pineda appeared well on
his way to the American League Rookie of the Year award and he’s 6-3 and his
2.33 ERA is fourth best in the American League. His 76 strikeouts ranked ninth in
AL at one point. Pineda’s dominance evokes memories of previous Mariners rookie pitching
phenoms. Some panned out. Some flamed out. And the jury is still out on a few.
Here are the top 10 rookie seasons by a Mariners pitcher.

10. Gil Meche: Meche was the Mariners’ first-round draft pick
out of high school in 1996, and he tore through the farm system to make his
major league debut midway through the 1999 season. He started 15 games, going
8-4 with a 4.73 ERA and striking out 47 in 85.2 innings. The promising start
soon gave way to the reality that Meche was a decent major league arm, but he
would never be an elite hurler. He went 55-44 with a 4.65 ERA over six seasons
with the Mariners before signing with the Kansas City Royals as a free agent
after the 2006 season. Meche retired before the 2011 season because of shoulder
problems, walking away from more than $12 million in guaranteed salary.

10. Gil Meche: Meche was the Mariners’ first-round draft pick out of high school in 1996, and he tore through the farm system to make his major league debut midway through the 1999 season. He started 15

9. Felix Hernandez: King Felix hardly resembled royalty when he
debuted as a slightly pudgy 19-year-old late in the 2005 season. He started 12
games that season and gave Mariners fans a glimpse of his future Cy
Young-caliber arm. He went 4-4 with a 2.67 ERA and struck out 77 batters in
84.1 innings. He struggled a bit in his first full season in the majors in 2006,
but improved each season and was the best pitcher in the American League in
2010.

9. Felix Hernandez: King Felix hardly resembled royalty when he debuted as a slightly pudgy 19-year-old late in the 2005 season. He started 12 games that season and gave Mariners fans a glimpse of his future

8. Enrique Romo: Romo was 29 when he debuted with the inaugural
Mariners in 1977 after 11 seasons in the Mexican league. Despite being
primarily a reliever, the 29-year-old finished the season tied with John Montague for most wins on staff. He went 8-10 with a 2.83
ERA and 16 saves, striking out 105 batters in 114.1 innings. He lasted one more
season in the bullpen before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for, among
others, the infamous Mario Mendoza.

8. Enrique Romo: Romo was 29 when he debuted with the inaugural Mariners in 1977 after 11 seasons in the Mexican league. Despite being primarily a reliever, the 29-year-old finished the season tied with John

7. Joel Pineiro: Pineiro debuted for the Mariners in 2000, but didn’t
pitch enough innings for it to count as his rookie season. In 2001, he appeared
in 17 games, including 11 starts, and went 6-2 with a 2.03 ERA. He struck out
56 batters in 75.1 innings as the Mariners rolled to the best record in
baseball. Pineiro won a total of 30 games in 2002-03, but his ERA started to balloon
in 2004 and the Mariners ultimately let him become a free agent after the 2006
season. He signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels
before the 2010 season.

7. Joel Pineiro: Pineiro debuted for the Mariners in 2000, but didn’t pitch enough innings for it to count as his rookie season. In 2001, he appeared in 17 games, including 11 starts, and went 6-2 with a

6. Erik Hanson: Hanson debuted midway through the 1988 season
and showed promise, and he didn’t disappoint as an official rookie in 1989.
Hanson started 17 games, going 9-5 with a 3.18 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 113.1
innings. The next season, he won a career-high 18 games, but never regained
that form after the 1990 season. The Mariners made the most of Hanson, trading
him and Bret Boone to the Cincinnati Reds for Bobby Ayala and Dan Wilson. That’s
Hanson third from the left before the 1990 season with fellow starters Brian
Holman, Randy Johnson and Scott Bankhead.

6. Erik Hanson: Hanson debuted midway through the 1988 season and showed promise, and he didn’t disappoint as an official rookie in 1989. Hanson started 17 games, going 9-5 with a 3.18 ERA and 75 strikeouts

5. Matt Young: The Mariners were bad in 1983, winning just 60
games. But a lanky left-hander named Matt Young made the most of pitching for a
bad team, going 11-15 with a 3.27 ERA in 33 starts. He struck out 130 batters
in 203 innings and made the All-Star game, where he retired Johnny Bench, Darrell
Evans and Pedro Guerrero in order in the eighth inning. He went just 26-33 over
the next three seasons and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1986 for Mike
Watters and Dennis Powell. In 1992, with the Boston Red Sox, he became a
bizarre footnote of baseball history. He threw an unofficial no-hitter against
the Cleveland Indians, giving up two runs on seven walks and an error. The feat
is not recognized as a no-hitter by Major League Baseball because he threw just
eight innings in the losing effort, as the Red Sox were the road team.

5. Matt Young: The Mariners were bad in 1983, winning just 60 games. But a lanky left-hander named Matt Young made the most of pitching for a bad team, going 11-15 with a 3.27 ERA in 33 starts. He struck out

4. Dave Fleming: Fleming debuted in 1991, but his first full
season in the majors was 1992, when he made 33 starts for the Mariners. The
left-hander went 17-10 with a 3.39 ERA, striking out 112 in 228.1 innings,
finishing third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. It was his
best year as a professional and he was out of baseball after the 1995 season
because of arm injuries.

4. Dave Fleming: Fleming debuted in 1991, but his first full season in the majors was 1992, when he made 33 starts for the Mariners. The left-hander went 17-10 with a 3.39 ERA, striking out 112 in 228.1

3. Kazuhiro Sasaki: Sasaki was 32 when he started his rookie
season in 2000. The Japanese import started the season as a middle reliever,
but eventually won the closer’s role from Jose Mesa. He recorded 37 saves with
a 3.16 ERA, striking out 78 in 62.2 innings and won the American League Rookie
of the Year award. He owned the ninth inning from the Mariners for much of the
next two seasons, notching 82 more saves, but he broke a rib while drunkenly horsing
around and recorded just 10 saves in 2003. He returned to Japan with a year and
$8.5 million left on his contract.

3. Kazuhiro Sasaki: Sasaki was 32 when he started his rookie season in 2000. The Japanese import started the season as a middle reliever, but eventually won the closer’s role from Jose Mesa. He recorded 37

2. Freddy Garcia: Garcia was part of what the Mariners got from
the Houston Astros in the Randy Johnson trade, and for a while it looked like
they had found a replacement for the Big Unit. Garcia made his major league
debut at the start of the 1999 season and went 17-8 with a 4.07 ERA, striking
out 170 in 201.1 innings. He finished second in the American League Rookie of
the Year voting and ninth in the Cy Young voting. Garcia won 76 games in five-plus
seasons for the Mariners, but was traded before the deadline in 2004 to the Chicago
White Sox for outfielders Mike Morse and Jeremy Reed and catcher Miguel Olivo.

2. Freddy Garcia: Garcia was part of what the Mariners got from the Houston Astros in the Randy Johnson trade, and for a while it looked like they had found a replacement for the Big Unit. Garcia made his

1. Mark Langston: The 1984 Mariners won just 74 games, and
Langston was responsible for 17 of those wins. As a 23-year-old rookie, the
left-hander went 17-10 with a 3.40 ERA. He struck out a whopping 204 batters in
225 innings pitched and was second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind
teammate Alvin Davis. Langston would win a total of 74 games for the Mariners
before being traded in 1989 to the Montreal Expos for a surly, wild left-hander
named Randy Johnson. Langston later became a fixture in the Angels rotation for much of
the 1990s.

1. Mark Langston: The 1984 Mariners won just 74 games, and Langston was responsible for 17 of those wins. As a 23-year-old rookie, the left-hander went 17-10 with a 3.40 ERA. He struck out a whopping 204

Seattle Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre talks with starting pitcher Felix Hernandez (34) in the dugout after the top of the fifth inning of the team's baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in Seattle. Hernandez did not start the sixth inning and was relieved by Adam Warren. less

Seattle Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre talks with starting pitcher Felix Hernandez (34) in the dugout after the top of the fifth inning of the team's baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, ... more

Photo: Ted S. Warren, AP

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Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez waits as Texas Rangers' Adrian Beltre rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018, in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers won 11-4. less

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez waits as Texas Rangers' Adrian Beltre rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018, in ... more

"I'll be a starter before the end of the year," Hernandez told The Associated Press. "No question about it."

The struggling Mariners ace has made 398 career starts in 14 seasons, never once pitching in relief. He was bumped from the rotation on Thursday night, the latest setback in a tough year in which he has a career-high 5.73 ERA and is 0-4 in his last five starts.

For the longtime face of this franchise, it was difficult to digest the team's decision to have him pitch in relief and he said it took him a couple of days to come to terms with it. Conversations with family and friends and encouragement from his wife Sandra, who he has been with since he was 14, helped.

"My wife is here. She flew here," Hernandez said. "We had a good conversation. And she told me: 'Just go out there and be the leader that you've been all these years. Be you. Be you.'"

And that, Hernandez said, is exactly what he plans to do. Though the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner sees this only as a temporary setback, he's prepared to embrace his new role for the good of a team that's in contention to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

"I'm just part of the team and I'm going to do whatever's possible to help the team," he said.

The 32-year-old Hernandez is 8-10 with a 5.73 ERA in 23 starts for a Mariners team chasing a playoff spot.

Hernandez, who has the fourth-most starts in MLB history without a relief appearance, has spent two games in the bullpen, but has yet to appear in a game. He shared his first impressions of the experience.

"It's boring. I'm telling you," he said with a laugh.

Both nights he's trotted with closer Edwin Diaz to the bullpen in left-center field at Minute Maid Park, where the Mariners are playing the AL West-leading Astros. Hernandez said he's picked his brain about relieving, but he's far from the only one he's reached out to for advice on the move.

"I've been talking with everyone in the bullpen him, Alex Colome, everybody," he said. "(They said) just go out there and have fun."

Hernandez pointed out that he's appeared in the All-Star game several times out of the bullpen, but admitted that he "might need some time" to get warmed up to enter a game.

He said the team didn't tell him anything specific that they need to see from him for him to get his starting job back, but he knows that he'll have to improve his fastball command to turn things around.

"The problem is my location of the fastball," he said. "If I locate my fastball, I'll be good because I've got many weapons to go out there and have good games so I have to locate my fastball."

Hernandez said he believes the problem is mechanical and said he's trying several different things to try and get back on track.

When facing reporters following his recent tough starts, including his last one against Texas in which he allowed a career-high 11 runs — seven of them earned — he seemed discouraged and a bit down.

It was a different Hernandez who spoke on Saturday. It wasn't quite the King Felix who threw a perfect game in 2012 and led the AL in ERA in both 2010 and 2014. But there were unmistakable notes of the swagger and bravado that were hallmarks of the presence he had on the mound when he was one of the game's most dominant pitchers.

He smiled easily and cracked jokes, his glossy ringlets bouncing around as he laughed. He said instead of getting mad about the move or letting it hurt his feelings, he's using it as motivation.

"All it does is encourage me to get back," he said before flashing one last smile.

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